A Moment of Hope
by Utan Sonar
Summary: Short oneshot of Robin thinking about her situation as she walks towards her impending doom. Enies Lobby arc. Very slight LuccixRobin.


AN: So this turned out to be a very short, very vague kind of story... Sorry about that. xD I myself think I have Failed. But as this was the first story I published here, I decided it doesn't matter.

Anyway, this is based on a scene on a One Piece episode. It was just one of those scenes where I really liked Lucci, so I just acted on an impulse and wrote this.

Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Oh what a horrible series it would be if I did.

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><p>Robin knew that the only thing that awaited her was death. Not that it really scared her. There was something entirely different that she was afraid of.<p>

As she walked behind Spandam and next to Lucci, her hands tightly bound in the seastone handcuffs, desperation started to fill Robin's mind. What if they would launch the Buster Call? What would happen to the Strawhat Pirates then? They, who had come here all the way just to rescue her? They, who Robin herself had wanted to save by giving herself up to the World Government? And now they would die because of her... They would experience they same thing Ohara did... She had said that they shouldn't have come, hadn't she? This was what she had meant!

Robin was afraid of that and that only. That the Strawhats who she loved, who defended her so, would die solely because of her.

Spandam wasn't helping one bit. He broke out, now and then, into a boisterous and greedy laughter which echoed off the tunnel walls, making it sound even more psychopatic.

"Well, how is it, Nico Robin? How does it feel to be finally working for the World Government?", he asked, mocking and staring at Robin with a mad gleam in his eyes before bursting into laughter again.

Filled with pain, Robin hung her head. She wished she couldn't hear Spandam's words. She lifted her gaze and glanced at Lucci, who had remained silent almost the whole time. The expression on his face didn't say anything. It was devoid of any emotion, like always. He walked slowly, hands in his pockets and seemed to try to ignore Spandam's chattering.

_It's like he doesn't care about anything, _Robin found herself thinking.

A sudden very loud rumble startled them. All three of them turned to look to the direction where they had come from, but continued walking nevertheless.

"W-what was that? That horrible noise?", Spandam started to panic.

"It seems that somebody just broke the door...", Lucci said in his typical composed voice.

Spandam started to rave and scream about something, but Robin didn't listen. She just stared. Was somebody coming? One of the Strawhats? If so... maybe hope wasn't completely lost yet!

Without noticing it, the pain in Robin's chest started to dissolve. No! She couldn't allow herself to think about that! What if it was someone else who was not coming to save her?

Robin awakened from her thoughts just in time to hear Spandam saying:

"... why didn't you stop them?"

Robin turned to look at Lucci. He had stopped walking, and surprisingly enough, there was a cunning smirk on his emotionless face.

"You didn't order me to do so."

Robin almost freezed. She had nearly never seen Lucci smile. Had he not told Spandam something important on purpose so that Luffy and the others would get past those steel doors to save her? Why? Did he want to test Luffy, to fight with him? Or was he just simply _bored? _Robin's mind was racing and her heart started to pound for some reason. Hesitantly, she allowed herself to hope for the impossible...

Spandam had started to yell at Lucci again, but Robin wasn't listening. She couldn't hear anything over the painful thumping of her heart.

Robin fixed a nervous glare at Spandam, and he noticed.

"Huh?" He said menacingly, turning his attention to Robin. "What's with that face?"

He walked over to her and lifted his hand. She knew immediately what was coming.

Spandam slapped Robin in the face so hard that she fell to the ground. She felt how her face hit the hard floor, but she didn't care. Spandam had done things much worse to her before.

"You have no business worrying about others, Nico Robin!", Spandam declared mercilessly. "Soon you'll be going to the real hell!"

Robin bit her lip so hard that it hurt. No. She knew that_ they _would come and save her!

"Lucci!", she heard Spandam calling. "Hurry and get her up!"

Robin heard footsteps approaching and felt Lucci bending over her, but the hand that grabbed her arm was surprisingly gentle. Robin almost thought that someone else was helping her up than Lucci.

When she got on her feet she glanced at Lucci's face for the briefest of seconds, but again didn't see any emotion. His hat was covering his eyes. Robin knew that she would never get to know what went on in his head. It was confusing.

As Lucci pushed her lightly from the back, urging her to walk, Robin noticed that she had gotten a little of her hope back. It just had come from such an unexpected source as him. And that worried her.


End file.
